Gallina Figatell: the new survival breed that does not exist yet

Pics
Date sort Score sort
txolillo said:
View attachment 3504628

Hola @Sally PB ! This is the only survivor of the fox attack, in the "viejo gallinero" (old coop) where she is staying while we develop the new setup and new chicks arrive (next week)

View attachment 3504630

This black and white Roosters are the Chulillos. This two were killed by the fox (as all the other chickens in the picture) , but the remaining one is like this two, and will be the dad of the new bunch at the moment

I have lots of pics, but those pics are from the chickens that we dont have anymore

I will post more when the new guys arrive (next week)
Click to expand...
 
txolillo said:
Hola! My name is Antonio, I am from Denia, a 45000 inhabitants mediterranean town in Spain.

I do live in the farm that my great grandmother bought 70 years ago, being my current life project to give it a new life after its fall, as it was a monocultive orange orchard for the last decades (although originally it was a farm with cows, garden and more)

With this in mind, I started with chickens last year. I has this permaculture idea, move them around the tree rows, every week, etc. We started with Plymouth and Ameraucanas, as we were told they were easy breeds to start with. And indeed they were.

As we started with them, we started learning by doing, having issues and solutions, death, sickness etc etc, so I started to question myself?

Why did we want chickens? To have meat and eggs, a constant flow of it. So, how much was costing us every egg? Way more than a premium egg that we could buy in the supermarket. Not only in inputs, but also in time: move the chickens every week, open the coop, close the coop, care of the sicks and start again. It was being costly, not only money costly, but time also. Our time means money.

Being the case that it was a self consumption initiative and not a commercial operation, how could we make it more natural and flowing?

All the moving up and down was being a headache, so we let them just be. And logically they found the garden and destroyed flowers… so we closed a 2500 square meter area for them with a 1.5m tall wired fence.

From the first flock, Ameraucanas proved very tough (4 out of 5 never got sick) and Plymouths made a good way, 3 out of 5. We had this Plymouth Rooster, very aggressive, Kiki Musampa. One day, he just died sick.

So, we had this “free range area”. We thought they were safe, so we just stopped closing the coop. Going every morning and evening was a stress reason? Sleep late? Dinner? Just let them be

Some months later, I was contacted by a regional organism. They wanted to rescue the “Gallina Chulilla” from extinction. This is a local race, progressively abandoned for not being “productive”. They gave us chicks and many eggs, so after hatching we ended with around 12… being the thing that most of them were roosters. I had the commitment of protecting the race and keep them separated, but having so many roosters made me think

1. Some of them were just going to the paella
2. But some others were so cute… that I felt I needed to keep them , and introduce them in the free range area

So I named a new race: Gallina Figatell. Figatell is a specialty food here in my area, is basically a leaver mini hamburger. Very local name.

At that point I was reading on the landrace concept, Joseph Lofthouse, and thought: Just let them be. Add diversity there, lots of genetics, and see who can thrive in my conditions. I thought my main problems were extreme summer heat, hard wind, foraging and immune system.

And I went “gung ho”. I made a Frankenstein in my mind: Leghorns, cause they were good layers. Marans, cause I liked the egg colour. Andalusian, two kinds of them cause they were good foragers. I didnt want to hatch, I wanted them to do it, so add Americanas to the mix, and silkies. Sussex, Faverolles, Pekin… just because.

First weeks, it was chaos. I did it so fast, that I did not consider some adaptation and observance, so I started to have sicks,deads… in 10 days I lost 8. But suddenly, it just stopped, and life was in harmony.

Yes, our dog killed one Silkie, and this was a main concern that had us busy and forced us to have her a lot under control (she is just a 7 months old spanish mastiff). But it looked like the thing was having a good rythm:

- Kiki Musampa , the Plymouth Rooster, died, but left us one daughter: Kika. A cross with an Ameraucana. He had more kids, but in a temporary move we decided to keep them for a while with the Chulillas coop… and Chulillas killed all but one. Anyway, Kika was the symbol of the figatells.

- The three Chulillo Roosters that we liberated created a hierarchy. One became the boss (EL JEFE, was the name, not very original). And the other two survived separated (Margi and Crestoncio). All the senior chickens (Plymouth and Ameraucanas) became his “Gadaffi Bodyguards” always surrounding him

- There was a new group called “Las Palmeras” cause they decided to sleep under a palm. It was made of Leghorns, Blue Andalusians, Pekin and Faverolles, making their own life. Kika also with them

- We had two groups of “motorbiker gangs”, as they were always moving around without mixing with the others. Sussex on one side, Brown Andalusians on the other. We spent days withouth seeing the Brown Andalusians, so they were our best candidates for the new race dna

- The Silkies, we called them the Artichokers, as they were also not mixing, but always scared under the wild artichockes that we had in certain point

- We had “Gran Pollo” a new rooster from an unknown breed that a friend gave us. He lived in a suburban area and his morning singing was becoming a problem. Super nice and easygoing rooster.

- And we had lots of chicks of Americanas and Marans that we got 2 weeks old, waiting to join the gang, wich we did when they had 12 weeks

And this was it. We had certain places to find eggs. We fed them only if we wanted them to be close to us for some reason. They had their hierarchies, we had eggs and not headaches after the adaptation. A food forest area just for themselves. They were fun to see and we were always saying “some day some of them will be broody, so we will have new chicks around and this will be the start of the race”

Then, the fatal night arrived. On a Friday, we introduced the Americanas and Marans. On a Saturday night, the fox killed 39. Out of total 40. And now we have the four chulillas that are closed and the Blue Andalusian. High Shock

We became very confident. We thought the main issue was sickness and finding food, and they were doing it. Predators? Yes, we had boar issues, but we made a new fence around the property. Fox, gineta…? We knew about attacks in the area, yes. But we made this reasoning that proved wrong:

1. We are very close to the urban zone, not the favourite for them
2. The property is closed
3. And they are in a wired fence area
4. They have several groups sleeping each of them in a different spot, so this might be an advantage for them, it is difficult to attack them all!

But, we were wrong.

Are we going to give up? No, we still want eggs, meat and finding a flow method to raise them. We want to create the habitat. I read about @Florida Bullfrog in David The Good, that took me to this forum and, having all those chickens alive I was anyway waiting for his book to give it a new push to the project. But now, it is time to start again. How am I going to do it?

1. Coop. There is this coop with automated doors that might be our solution for the open/close burnout . At this point and with this lesson, I cant let this open anymore until I have a higher population

2. The setup is going to be this coop with a run, and let them free range for a while but being more calm on the transitions and adding phases

3. Small cages that I can use for quarantines, newbies, chicks …

4. The food forest is not that tall enough (2.5 years old) . I might compost more and better the central rows so trees might be a solution for the chickens, or create new structures so they can roost there. The two rows close to the road or to the gardens, I will let them grow slow cause I dont want chickens to jump out on the sides if I can avoid it.

5. New flock is on it’s way. Following @Florida Bullfrog advice, main genetics must come from gamefowl. But it is not that easy to find those breeds in Spain, eventhought we have the “Combatiente Español” breed. After heavy looking , I found five Bankiva Chickens. No rooster, and very expensive. I got 5 andalusians as they were the best foragers and 4 Ameraucanas as they proved to be the best illness resistant. My daughters wanted to have all the same breeds and colours we had before. I told them this was nonsense, but they were very sad so I agreed on getting some “breed ambassadors” just symbolic: sussex, leghorn and plymouth. No Silkies, Faverolles, Pekin or Marans yet, despite the protest. I found also Americana chicks, six weeks old this time, and I want to bet again for them cause here are the “incubadoras” known for they motherly instincts. I found no rooster of the breeds that I want to favour, so we will go with the remaining Chulillo rooster . I will keep looking for gamefowl roosters though, to make sure that this genetics is always present. I am finding difficult in Spain to find many of the breeds that are mentioned here as gamefowls or similars, let it be Asil, Liege or whatsoever.Neither can I find Fayoumis, whose genetics are very interesting

6. The adaptation is going to be taken more seriously. The will be cooped in the old gallineros, where my granddad had his chickens. I dont like it cause they shit all around, we have to clean it more, and they have no access to free range food, so feeding theme is expensive. But this adaptation/observation is key.

7. After a while, breeds will start going to the automated coop with some free run. I will be vigilant with the eggs, and as long as I can get fertile eggs I will start hatching them non stop. The new chicks well be the new rangers.

8. Keep investigating hardy breeds (Menorquina, Prat, Penedesenca) gamefowl breed and genetic biodiversity.

I still have this in mind. Back in the day, everybody had poultry here, and poultry was not meant to be an expensive hobby but a survival livestock. They had predators and they had issues, but away from the exposition circuit, regular farmers just had this. No fancy coops, no supervitaminado grain, no gym bro fitness supplements. Of course still today everybody can have an expensive hobby if they feel like it, I do also have those where I spent money in fancy things that I dont really need. But, for me, the thing is: enough eggs and meat for my family without this being a nonstop investment or a constant drudgery.

So, the Gallina Figatell has to start again, and I hope I will learn from my mistakes and do this better this second time
Click to expand...
Wow you surely have a lot going on! I received 4 day old Wyandottes from my future son in law and i had no idea what to do. We live on 1.5 acres in the middle of a subdivision. When they got old enough we free ranged them but they got out of the fenced area and would run all over the neighborhood. We made a large pen for them and we got an eglu. So easy to clean. The only problem we have is to remember to shut the coop up. I would like one of those timers that open and close the door. From 4 chickens we get 4 -5 large eggs a day. Love to hear jow the Gallina Figatell develops... maybe we will someday have that breed in the states
 
A crazy man hundreds of years ago basically did the project you speak of. He mixed Malay fighting birds with Brown Leghorns and created the Rhode Island Red. If you want a combo of meat and eggs from a hardy bird I think it may already exist in the Rhode Island Red

I have a similar project to your own. I have a single flock of maybe 80 birds that live outside, totally free on my land. They come and go as they please, being mostly gamefowl. However I do also have six RIR hens that have done well despite the foxes that chase them semi-regularly. They're honestly tough birds and I respect the crazy men that first bred them

One day, God willing, I hope to produce something even better. At the moment I have a million mixed Indio Gigante babies running around outside
 
txolillo said:
Hola! My name is Antonio, I am from Denia, a 45000 inhabitants mediterranean town in Spain.

I do live in the farm that my great grandmother bought 70 years ago, being my current life project to give it a new life after its fall, as it was a monocultive orange orchard for the last decades (although originally it was a farm with cows, garden and more)

With this in mind, I started with chickens last year. I has this permaculture idea, move them around the tree rows, every week, etc. We started with Plymouth and Ameraucanas, as we were told they were easy breeds to start with. And indeed they were.

As we started with them, we started learning by doing, having issues and solutions, death, sickness etc etc, so I started to question myself?

Why did we want chickens? To have meat and eggs, a constant flow of it. So, how much was costing us every egg? Way more than a premium egg that we could buy in the supermarket. Not only in inputs, but also in time: move the chickens every week, open the coop, close the coop, care of the sicks and start again. It was being costly, not only money costly, but time also. Our time means money.

Being the case that it was a self consumption initiative and not a commercial operation, how could we make it more natural and flowing?

All the moving up and down was being a headache, so we let them just be. And logically they found the garden and destroyed flowers… so we closed a 2500 square meter area for them with a 1.5m tall wired fence.

From the first flock, Ameraucanas proved very tough (4 out of 5 never got sick) and Plymouths made a good way, 3 out of 5. We had this Plymouth Rooster, very aggressive, Kiki Musampa. One day, he just died sick.

So, we had this “free range area”. We thought they were safe, so we just stopped closing the coop. Going every morning and evening was a stress reason? Sleep late? Dinner? Just let them be

Some months later, I was contacted by a regional organism. They wanted to rescue the “Gallina Chulilla” from extinction. This is a local race, progressively abandoned for not being “productive”. They gave us chicks and many eggs, so after hatching we ended with around 12… being the thing that most of them were roosters. I had the commitment of protecting the race and keep them separated, but having so many roosters made me think

1. Some of them were just going to the paella
2. But some others were so cute… that I felt I needed to keep them , and introduce them in the free range area

So I named a new race: Gallina Figatell. Figatell is a specialty food here in my area, is basically a leaver mini hamburger. Very local name.

At that point I was reading on the landrace concept, Joseph Lofthouse, and thought: Just let them be. Add diversity there, lots of genetics, and see who can thrive in my conditions. I thought my main problems were extreme summer heat, hard wind, foraging and immune system.

And I went “gung ho”. I made a Frankenstein in my mind: Leghorns, cause they were good layers. Marans, cause I liked the egg colour. Andalusian, two kinds of them cause they were good foragers. I didnt want to hatch, I wanted them to do it, so add Americanas to the mix, and silkies. Sussex, Faverolles, Pekin… just because.

First weeks, it was chaos. I did it so fast, that I did not consider some adaptation and observance, so I started to have sicks,deads… in 10 days I lost 8. But suddenly, it just stopped, and life was in harmony.

Yes, our dog killed one Silkie, and this was a main concern that had us busy and forced us to have her a lot under control (she is just a 7 months old spanish mastiff). But it looked like the thing was having a good rythm:

- Kiki Musampa , the Plymouth Rooster, died, but left us one daughter: Kika. A cross with an Ameraucana. He had more kids, but in a temporary move we decided to keep them for a while with the Chulillas coop… and Chulillas killed all but one. Anyway, Kika was the symbol of the figatells.

- The three Chulillo Roosters that we liberated created a hierarchy. One became the boss (EL JEFE, was the name, not very original). And the other two survived separated (Margi and Crestoncio). All the senior chickens (Plymouth and Ameraucanas) became his “Gadaffi Bodyguards” always surrounding him

- There was a new group called “Las Palmeras” cause they decided to sleep under a palm. It was made of Leghorns, Blue Andalusians, Pekin and Faverolles, making their own life. Kika also with them

- We had two groups of “motorbiker gangs”, as they were always moving around without mixing with the others. Sussex on one side, Brown Andalusians on the other. We spent days withouth seeing the Brown Andalusians, so they were our best candidates for the new race dna

- The Silkies, we called them the Artichokers, as they were also not mixing, but always scared under the wild artichockes that we had in certain point

- We had “Gran Pollo” a new rooster from an unknown breed that a friend gave us. He lived in a suburban area and his morning singing was becoming a problem. Super nice and easygoing rooster.

- And we had lots of chicks of Americanas and Marans that we got 2 weeks old, waiting to join the gang, wich we did when they had 12 weeks

And this was it. We had certain places to find eggs. We fed them only if we wanted them to be close to us for some reason. They had their hierarchies, we had eggs and not headaches after the adaptation. A food forest area just for themselves. They were fun to see and we were always saying “some day some of them will be broody, so we will have new chicks around and this will be the start of the race”

Then, the fatal night arrived. On a Friday, we introduced the Americanas and Marans. On a Saturday night, the fox killed 39. Out of total 40. And now we have the four chulillas that are closed and the Blue Andalusian. High Shock

We became very confident. We thought the main issue was sickness and finding food, and they were doing it. Predators? Yes, we had boar issues, but we made a new fence around the property. Fox, gineta…? We knew about attacks in the area, yes. But we made this reasoning that proved wrong:

1. We are very close to the urban zone, not the favourite for them
2. The property is closed
3. And they are in a wired fence area
4. They have several groups sleeping each of them in a different spot, so this might be an advantage for them, it is difficult to attack them all!

But, we were wrong.

Are we going to give up? No, we still want eggs, meat and finding a flow method to raise them. We want to create the habitat. I read about @Florida Bullfrog in David The Good, that took me to this forum and, having all those chickens alive I was anyway waiting for his book to give it a new push to the project. But now, it is time to start again. How am I going to do it?

1. Coop. There is this coop with automated doors that might be our solution for the open/close burnout . At this point and with this lesson, I cant let this open anymore until I have a higher population

2. The setup is going to be this coop with a run, and let them free range for a while but being more calm on the transitions and adding phases

3. Small cages that I can use for quarantines, newbies, chicks …

4. The food forest is not that tall enough (2.5 years old) . I might compost more and better the central rows so trees might be a solution for the chickens, or create new structures so they can roost there. The two rows close to the road or to the gardens, I will let them grow slow cause I dont want chickens to jump out on the sides if I can avoid it.

5. New flock is on it’s way. Following @Florida Bullfrog advice, main genetics must come from gamefowl. But it is not that easy to find those breeds in Spain, eventhought we have the “Combatiente Español” breed. After heavy looking , I found five Bankiva Chickens. No rooster, and very expensive. I got 5 andalusians as they were the best foragers and 4 Ameraucanas as they proved to be the best illness resistant. My daughters wanted to have all the same breeds and colours we had before. I told them this was nonsense, but they were very sad so I agreed on getting some “breed ambassadors” just symbolic: sussex, leghorn and plymouth. No Silkies, Faverolles, Pekin or Marans yet, despite the protest. I found also Americana chicks, six weeks old this time, and I want to bet again for them cause here are the “incubadoras” known for they motherly instincts. I found no rooster of the breeds that I want to favour, so we will go with the remaining Chulillo rooster . I will keep looking for gamefowl roosters though, to make sure that this genetics is always present. I am finding difficult in Spain to find many of the breeds that are mentioned here as gamefowls or similars, let it be Asil, Liege or whatsoever.Neither can I find Fayoumis, whose genetics are very interesting

6. The adaptation is going to be taken more seriously. The will be cooped in the old gallineros, where my granddad had his chickens. I dont like it cause they shit all around, we have to clean it more, and they have no access to free range food, so feeding theme is expensive. But this adaptation/observation is key.

7. After a while, breeds will start going to the automated coop with some free run. I will be vigilant with the eggs, and as long as I can get fertile eggs I will start hatching them non stop. The new chicks well be the new rangers.

8. Keep investigating hardy breeds (Menorquina, Prat, Penedesenca) gamefowl breed and genetic biodiversity.

I still have this in mind. Back in the day, everybody had poultry here, and poultry was not meant to be an expensive hobby but a survival livestock. They had predators and they had issues, but away from the exposition circuit, regular farmers just had this. No fancy coops, no supervitaminado grain, no gym bro fitness supplements. Of course still today everybody can have an expensive hobby if they feel like it, I do also have those where I spent money in fancy things that I dont really need. But, for me, the thing is: enough eggs and meat for my family without this being a nonstop investment or a constant drudgery.

So, the Gallina Figatell has to start again, and I hope I will learn from my mistakes and do this better this second time
Click to expand...
Very good luck to you! I send love, prosperity, and success to you. It will be because you believe ! I believe in you also!
 
Why did that one chicken survive the fox attack? Coloring? Camoflage? Flying ability? Whatever it is, you want to duplicate it in your new population.
 

Similar threads

C
    • Like
Rooster switch, how long until I'm sure the new rooster will be the actual father
Replies
2
Views
455
growanstede
growanstede
TinyRaptorDodos
    • Like
Yet another question for hatching season
Replies
2
Views
453
SourRoses
SourRoses
P
    • Like
Incomplete lacing
Replies
5
Views
852
NatJ
NatJ
peafowl_Lover
New years resolution, a good breed
Replies
3
Views
681
pipdzipdnreadytogo
pipdzipdnreadytogo
Z
    • Like
Having fun with egg color genetics!
Replies
2
Views
1K
Australorpfamily
Australorpfamily

New posts New threads Active threads

Back
Top Bottom